Searching Nikon F on ebay

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

How do you search for a Nikon F on ebay, I'd like to know. It returns 40 million listings for anything Nikon that has an F in it.

Vilk · Jun 26, 2013

"Nikon F" in quotes will help a bit. it still doesn't seem to have the concept of "whole words only," so it will find a Nikon F2 as well (not necessarily a bad thing ) but it's better than nothing i guess...

MSchuler · Jun 26, 2013

I did a search on "Nikon F body" and selected the film camera category and got 625 matches, including all F-series cameras. Not very hard to scroll through.

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

I've tried all that. And yes it's a PITA to scroll through.

markbarendt · Jun 26, 2013

Try adding "body" or "camera" or "MF" or "manual focus"

markbarendt · Jun 26, 2013

Tom1956 said:
I've tried all that. And yes it's a PITA to scroll through.

You must not have the eBay app on your iPad.

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

Thanks everyone, but I'm afraid nothing will work to weed out anything not 1959-1971 Nikon F only. Any other keywords would also go to filter out a portion the F's themselves. Especially words like "manual focus" or "body" and the like. Remember, people who know nothing of cameras and simply put up thrift-shop items, don't use these words.Come to think of it, without a finder, the Nikon F has no model stamped on it at all.

markbarendt · Jun 26, 2013

You could also qualify it by the finder you want

markbarendt · Jun 26, 2013

Tom1956 said:
Thanks everyone, but I'm afraid nothing will work to weed out anything not 1959-1971 Nikon F only. Any other keywords would also go to filter out a portion the F's themselves. Especially words like "manual focus" or "body" and the like. Remember, people who know nothing of cameras and simply put up thrift-shop items, don't use these words.Come to think of it, without a finder, the Nikon F has no model stamped on it at all.

That's not always bad, poorly listed items get fewer real buyers; yes they are tougher to find but can be better deals. I've done that several times.

Also I always look for bodies with lenses; many times the lens can be sold to cover a good share of the total cost.

nsurit · Jun 26, 2013

I just did a search for, nikon "F", camera body and when it gave me the results I simply went to the categories on the left and selected vintage which produced a result of 120 items. If 120 is too many to look thru, you may not be serious about buying. You might also post a WTB message in this forum. Bill Barber

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

Look at what I picked up last night. Pretty nifty, huh? The guy had zero sales, so he was passed over by a lot of buyers. I bought it. Heck, the paypal protection is the same. And I already have a piece of side leather and another top right cover to replace the dinged-up on here.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121130445605

mweintraub · Jun 26, 2013

Don't forget "Antique" as a search criteria. hehe People think that if it's over 5 years old, it's an antique.

ic-racer · Jun 26, 2013

I use a searches like this:

nikon f -f6 -f3 -f5 -f100 -f5e -f4 -f2 -ftn -f65 -ft -f60 -f401 -f90 -fe -n4004 -f5 -f70

You can keep adding more "-xxx" to he string as you go.

I got about 230 good listings for F cameras with the above search string.
Also, click "SLR" on the left-hand refinements.

One potential drawback is that this type of search does eliminate some actual "F" camera listings from people that have spam-listed "F" cameras under bogus listings (like "F6") but that is ok by me. I don't want to purchase from sellers that engage in that type of listing anyway.

E. von Hoegh · Jun 26, 2013

Tom1956 said:
Look at what I picked up last night. Pretty nifty, huh? The guy had zero sales, so he was passed over by a lot of buyers. I bought it. Heck, the paypal protection is the same. And I already have a piece of side leather and another top right cover to replace the dinged-up on here.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121130445605

You know those metered prisms are very good, if the cells and potentiometer are in good shape. Get some flourescent green leather to recover it with.

mesantacruz · Jun 26, 2013

you can also just select 'auctions' from the side box.. which usually tends to narrow them quite a bit. and gets rid of most ridiculous 'buy it now' listings

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

E. von Hoegh said:
You know those metered prisms are very good, if the cells and potentiometer are in good shape. Get some flourescent green leather to recover it with.

I've got a tn finder with the long slot that I can swipe a pot or cells out of if I have to. (provided it's the same pot).

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

Hey--EVH--what is your cure for the px625 problem on the FTN finder?

E. von Hoegh · Jun 26, 2013

Tom1956 said:
Hey--EVH--what is your cure for the px625 problem on the FTN finder?

Hearing aid cells. Block off 3 of the 4 holes, it will last a year or more. You'll have to make a holder for them, I used some plastic tube and sheet copper. You can also recalibrate the finder to use silver oxide 625s (they are available).

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

E. von Hoegh said:
Hearing aid cells. Block off 3 of the 4 holes, it will last a year or more. You'll have to make a holder for them, I used some plastic tube and sheet copper. You can also recalibrate the finder to use silver oxide 625s (they are available).

I've read about your technique for blocking off holes, and it makes sense for longevity's sake. But what about capacity? Seems like by the time you took repeated meter readings in quick succession, that the air intake and chemical reaction would not be able to keep up, and voltage would drop. Further, are you drilling air holes in the battery cover?

250swb · Jun 26, 2013

It is very difficult to search for 'Nikon F' on Ebay, particularly as only searching in smaller select categories will miss the cameras accidentally placed in the wrong categories, which often turn out to be the bargains because nobody else is searching there. A universal search seems impossible. Another way to find bargains is to search for misspellings, but it is hard to figure out how 'Nikon F' can go wrong.

Steve

E. von Hoegh · Jun 26, 2013

IIRC the cover has holes already. I've never had the voltage sag with use, I suppose it would, especially on a bright winter's day - but so far so good.

I'm pretty careful not to have the meter on unless I'm actually using it, also I only use the FTN meter for macro where TTL metering is nice to have. The rest of my metering is done with a LunaSix or a Weston.

JimCee · Jun 26, 2013

Try this: enter search term "Nikon F" + body into the category "Cameras and Photo". Go to advanced search and enter this string in the "Exclude words from your search" field:
F2 F2AS F3 F4 F5 F6 F100 F90X F50 F65 FinePix F80 F801 F70 F401 F301 F75 F801 F601

This resulted in 114 "hits" for me just now. Most everything is either a Nikon F camera body, or lens caps. There are a few additional camera types that still show up, if you wish add them to the field to exclude from your search.

Jim

mweintraub · Jun 26, 2013

JimCee said:
Try this: enter search term "Nikon F" + body into the category "Cameras and Photo". ...

Jim

I don't like limiting the category because not everyone knows how to put them in the right category, so sometimes the best deals are there... wait. that's my secret. Everyone close your browser and go shoot some photos.

Tom1956 · Jun 26, 2013

Isn't it always the way?--I bought a rough FTN model for 74 dollars last night, and today there's a pretty one of the same thing for 5 dollars more.

jglass · Jun 26, 2013

Here's how I would buy a Nikon F: KEH.com! (Sorry)

Searching Nikon F on ebay

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